"You know I have class tomorrow", I said, "I can't be out past 9, 10 tops."

"Yeah, yeah that's fine," Xia replied, "We'll easily be back by then".

After 16 years of friendship, I've gotten accustom to Xia's timing; it's not unusual for her to be about 30 mins late to practically anything. It was only recently that she's become more and more punctual, but last Tuesday, we were running usually late. By two hours to be exact, so by the time we had packed everything up, hopped onto the freeway towards downtown LA, and parked, the sun was setting and we were quite literally, looking natural daylight.

Luckily, Xia's friend and talented photographer, Jimmy, managed to use his amazing skills to create natural, studio lighting. As a new visitor to the studio, I found the space absolutely charming! It kind of reminded me of the old set from iCarly since the environment was filled with toys, giant floaties, and disco balls. Once we arrived, Brandon, Xia's main stylist and make-up artist for the photoshoot, quickly set up the spread of clothes and make-up pallets. We blasted Fume, Drake, and Alicia Keys to get the photoshoot vibes flowing. The bottle of red wine we shared helped too 🍷.

There was something special in the air that evening as if time itself was only a suggestion and not a constraint.

While Xia and Brandon were prepping, Jimmy was kind enough to have me stand-in for him to test the lighting on set. It's amazing how lighting can make such a huge difference. I wasn't at all prepared to be photographed, but his photos of me turned out amazing because of his professionalism. I was blown away. In a nutshell, my main role for the shoot was morale support; after all, every glamours person needs an entourage.

Some crummy screen shot from my snapchat. The actual photos are fireeee!

The first look is inspired by Xia's old pageant dress and gold tears applied using Pat Mcgrath's latest Lust 004 Lipkit. I know the photo I included in absolutely crappy, but I assure you, the photos turned out amazing! For proof, follow @xiaheartsu. To get in the mood for this shoot, we played Death Cab For Cutie and Ed Sheeran so Xia could pout her sad eyes.

The second look cam out AH-mazing thanks to Brandon's mad styling skills. The look was put together with super distressed jeans, a red Tommy Hilfiger jersey, sparkly costume jewels, and topped off with a vintage bandana. Once Xia walked on set, she looked like a cross between a young Beyonce and a model who just came from the latest Tommy X Gigi fashion show. While she did her stuff, Brandon and I were having too much fun doing our own impromptu photoshoot behind the scenes. In fact, many of the photos below featuring my silliness were taken by him.

By the time we wrapped the shoot, it was 11pm. The city skyline that was once blue and orange was now black and glittery. After some swift cleaning, we wandered up to the rooftop where we could see the most spectacular view of downtown LA. The night was cool but not cold and the city lights winked back at us as if they knew we were up to something. Before we left, Jimmy took black and white polaroids of all of us. There's something about polaroids that is so beautifully raw and candid. There's a certain honesty with one take, one photo that results from a polaroid– especially in black and white.